


A Narrow Escape

by KatyAmberAuthor



Category: Original Work
Genre: Apocalypse, COVID-19, Coronavirus, End of the World, F/F, F/M, Post-Apocalypse, Survival, Virus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:46:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23107183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatyAmberAuthor/pseuds/KatyAmberAuthor
Summary: _______________ ORIGANAL WORKS _________________A woman tries to survive the global pandemic of Coronavirus.A thriller/horror set on a narrowboat in the UK.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	1. One: Getting Prepared

Her hands trembled as she refreshed the page on her phone. She wasn’t sure why her hands were shaking so much; it could have been the nerves, the coffee, or even the half bottle of rum she drank the night before.

The page loaded slowly and revealed yet another country had closed down, cancelled all flights, and sent the army to protect the border crossings. By now thousands of people had fallen victim to the virus that originated in China. The cause of the virus was widely believed to be from bats, a mutation which was now transferrable from human to human. China had been the most affected country, to begin with, but travel soon spread the virus to every country with devastating effect. Italy had led the way in Europe, putting the entire country in quarantine. Britain was one of the lucky ones, a small island able to defend its borders from land, sea, and air. The war against the incurable virus had only just begun.

Being prepared was guesswork for Morgan, most countries were preparing for fourteen days in lockdown, some for almost a month. She decided to take precautions and prepare supplies for a month stuck indoors. Beans, rice, pasta, tinned fish, general cleaning products, and even some of the things that were nice to have like; chocolate, sweets, and alcohol. She had sharpened all her knives, stocked up with wood and coal and even charged everything that could be charged – so in the worst-case scenario and the power was out, she still had something to do. She thought she was ready for anything.

Morgan had felt as if she had been preparing herself for this her whole life, picking up skills in the cadets when she was younger, or camping trips with her mum - she knew how to survive and she knew she could survive in isolation. The one thing she hadn’t prepared for was human stupidity. Crowds of people buying endless amounts of toilet paper, fighting in the shops, buying all the soap. She had even seen somebody walking down the street spitting on car door handles to increase the spread of the virus. The world hung on in anticipation for the announcement that was sure to come, Britain is closed.

The more time went by without this announcement the more cases soared, and the more aggressive the public got with each other. She wasn’t scared of the virus, she was relatively fit and healthy and knew that if she caught it, she had a high chance of survival. She was concerned for her elderly relatives though; her grandma was in her seventies and was not very worldly when it came to surviving. Morgan and her grandma had spoken on the phone a couple of times and she had vowed to do her best to help her from afar.

Every media outlet was completely engulfed in stories about Coronavirus. The story was fascinating to watch, a wave across the world. The virus was like a locust; It took the old, the weak, and crippled the economy, and then moved on to the next country. When this was all over how much would be left?

The morning at work had been slow, because of the Virus a lot of students were avoiding university and so there wasn’t much need for Morgan and the other engineers she worked with. They were a good bunch of men, she had known them all for at least three years. In her head she wondered which of these friends would not return to work after the quarantine, some of them already had underlying health conditions and the virus would surely end them. It had made her sad to think that the team wouldn’t be together much longer, and every moment with them would be potentially their last.

“Ay up, how long d’you think it’s going to be before we get the alert?” she asked Ted, quietly.

Ted was her ex-partner and had been one of her closest friends since their relationship ended a year ago. He was average height, in shape, he had dark brown hair with flecks of grey down the sides, which was unusual for a man of twenty-six. She had always joked that he had selective hearing, and he was a man of few words – but he was reassuring when he needed to be.

“Don’t know.” He muttered, sipping his tea.

“You need to stop reading the news and getting yourself wound up.” He warned, he looked at Morgan and with a softness in his eyes he said “Please…”

Morgan nodded her head “I’m not wound up by the news I just…I hate not knowing and waiting, I’m impatient, you know that”

Ted’s attention went back to his computer screen as he infuriatingly highlighted everything he was reading with his mouse. Click, click, click…It was one of those noises that once you had heard, it was difficult to block it out.

Morgan sighed deeply and turned back to her own desk, everything felt so sad. All eight people in the office were quietly typing, nobody really dared to talk.

The email came first ‘Internal Communications’, telling us that the university was closing and everyone was free to leave immediately. Posters of health advice were embedded in the email, and there was a short thank you and stay safe from the Vice-Chancellor to all staff.

Then phones began to buzz and chime. The alert on Morgan’s phone read

_‘Emergency Alert, Due to the global pandemic of Coronavirus (COVID-19), the British Government urge the public to go home and stay in isolation for 14 days. Please see NHS website for more information.’_

Her heart sank and she swallowed the dry lump in her throat – this was it. She knew she had everything ready at home, but everything was still so uncertain. If everyone else was getting this alert at the same time, then how would she get home? Fifteen miles back to her narrowboat seemed like hundreds of miles away now.

Her manager stood from his seat and shook his head, his eyes filled with nervous energy as they darted around the room trying to take in every detail as it could be the last.

“Right, so as far as we know it’s fourteen days at home without physical contact with anyone outside of your household. I hope you all stay safe, get plenty of rest and thank you all for being here today, I know it hasn't been an easy day.” The short, red-haired man commended. “Stay safe everyone and I’ll see you on the other side.” He forced a smile with tight lips, but his eyes portrayed a different story.

Morgan looked around at her colleagues and nodded at them one by one.

“Good luck.” She muttered as she left the office.

The campus was quiet so getting across it to the car wasn’t too much of an issue. Her legs were telling her to run but her mind fought it. There was no need to run, there was nothing that could have been done – she was at the mercy of the roads. Though the anxiety still built within her.

She climbed into her small blue car and her shaking hand turned the key in the ignition. She put on the USB that was in the stereo and took a deep breath. She just had to make it home.

The roads out of campus were quiet, students had already abandoned the place to beat the lockdown. Once Morgan was on main roads, she found it increasingly congested. It was like rush hour at the same time that Leicester City were playing at home against Manchester City. People walked quickly on the path, between cars, hopping fences – all following the one-way system out of the city centre.

Further out of the centre was the habitually dystopian suburb that she drove through daily, it looked the same. Bus stops were smashed, cars left abandoned at the side of the road, drunks sleeping on benches outside of off-licenses, promoting cheap cider by the crate. However, the road felt twice as long, and hooded figures felt increasingly intimidating.

Helpless in the traffic, she locked her doors and reached under the seat where she had cleverly hidden a telescopic wrench, moving it so it would be easy to grab in a hurry. Hands sweating on the steering wheel as inch by inch she moved closer to home. Others were not as patient, speeding on the wrong side of the road, or on the pavement. But for the most part, the crowds did what the British did so well, queue.

The further she got out of the city, the quicker the traffic moved and as the sun was beginning to set, she was pulling into the marina where she lived. She had made it. She knew everyone that lived in the marina and they had all previously agreed that, in the worst-case scenario, they would protect each other. She hoped that was true, but only time would tell.


	2. Two: Home

______________________________


End file.
